Dubuque Residents Encouraged to Provide Thoughts on Housing and Transportation at Upcoming Event 

MARCH 29, 2024

Dubuque residents will have the opportunity to share their thoughts on affordable housing and alternative transportation options in the city at an upcoming event. 

The open house will be held at the Multicultural Family Center, 1157 Central Ave., on Saturday, April 6, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

The event is being hosted by graduate students from the University of Iowa’s School of Planning and Public Affairs. The students are working with the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC), which assists communities across the state to complete a range of projects each year. 

The students have been meeting with community leaders, City staff, and residents for the past several months as they develop action plans based around the topics of affordable housing and alternative transportation methods. 

The students working on affordable housing have identified a handful of focus areas, which include: 

• How zoning and ordinance changes can increase housing supply, 
• How to mitigate the energy cost burden to decrease overall housing costs, 
• How to streamline new development, 
• Addressing disparities in home ownership across diverse populations, 
• Identifying strategies to increase the supply of affordable market rate housing and income-qualified housing. 

Focus areas selected by the students focusing on alternative transportation are: 

• Addressing micro-mobility (through programs like an e-bike share), 
• Implementing Safe Routes to Schools, 
• Increasing education and awareness around walkability and bikeability, 
• Making short distances more accessible with a “10-minute walks” campaign. 

"Attendees will be able to weigh in on which of the proposed solutions they are most interested in seeing implemented in their community, as well as learn about existing resources available through the City of Dubuque,” said Kaylynn Sieverding, Dubuque Affordable Housing Action Plan team member. 

“Thoughts and feedback will have a significant impact on the development of these plans,” said Jason Duba, City of Dubuque Assistant Planner. “Attendees can share their experience and perspectives to help ground these plans in the reality of Dubuquers.”  

The graduate students will present their findings and recommendations to the community during a final event on May 2nd, which the residents of Dubuque are also encouraged to attend. 

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The University of Iowa’s Initiative for Sustainable Communities is a campus-wide, engaged learning program housed in the Graduate College. IISC invests University of Iowa faculty and student time to increase the capacity of Iowa communities and to help them plan for a sustainable future. By taking students out of the classroom and into communities to complete real-world projects, IISC accomplishes two university-wide goals: enhancing sustainability across the state and transforming teaching and learning at the University of Iowa. To learn more about IISC and the current partnership with the City of Dubuque, visit http://iisc.uiowa.edu. 

MEDIA CONTACTS
Alexis Steger, City of Dubuque Housing & Community Development Director
ASteger@cityofdubuque.org, 563.589.4230

Travis Kraus, Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities Director
Travis-Kraus@uiowa.edu, 319.335.2798